1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to surgical procedures and compositions suitable for use in surgical applications, and, more particularly, to the formation of a tissue graft construct employing a small intestine submucosa mesh and its use in various surgical protocols, such as abdominal closure incisions, hernia defect repair, and internal bioretention sutures.
2. Description of the Related Art
Medical procedures involving peritoneal access into the abdominal wall cavity typically need to address the incidence of incisional hernias as one possible future complication. It is known that 7% of patients having abdominal incisions will develop incisional hernias. This percentage increases with smoking, obesity, wound infections, malnourished patients, diabetes, and other known conditions.
A need exists to develop a surgical technology that mitigates the incidence of post-operative incisional hernias, which is cost effective, readily amenable to use in routine abdominal closure regimens, and does not necessitate any additional surgical procedures beyond what is already warranted by the abdominal closure specification.
Additionally, current retention sutures, such as those typically employed to facilitate an abdominal closure or otherwise treat an incision, are very painful to the patient since they are external and tend to pull on the abdominal wall. The conventional sutures also tend to dig into the skin, causing irritation, infection and unsightly scars.
A need therefore exists to develop a suturing technology that overcomes these problems.